> Which is that from, Robin? Is it from his imitations of Juvenal, say?, The
> VAnity of Human Wishes?
Right in one, Gabe -- it's my favourite bit of the poem.
> Anyway, I wonder if Johnson would have felt the same about the "Hero" if
> he'd been around to the political -- and not the literary -- uses to which
> a martyr is put these days.
I think Johnson's pretty ambiguous about his Hero -- I'm never quite sure I
can entirely get my head round where he's at.
And he did, after all, say (in the Dictionary?), "Patriotism is the last
refuge of a scoundrel."
[Although to be pedantic, what Johnson meant by "patriotism" was more a
specific political stance -- joining the King's Party? -- than how we
understand the word today.]
... And Swift expires a driveler and a show.
Bloody vicious poem in some ways.
Robin
(Suddenly thinking about it, Johnson's [Charles XII] Hero's end is a bit
like Alcibiades' ...)
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